LITT Meeting - October 7, 2008

Introductions: (8:15 – 8:30)

We have some new members; please give your name, school site, and grade being taught.

Information Technology Update: (8:30 – 9:00)

New Staff Member for RUHS, RSHS, Annex, and M&O
Server Systems: Upgrade Status
E-Mail System: Mailbox size limitation
Question and Answer

Infinite Campus: (9:00 – 10:00)

WebEx Elementary Gradebook Presentation

BREAK

Welcome Activity

Screen Capture and Screencasting

What is a screen capture?
How do I capture my screen?
- There are lots of Free screen capture tools for Windows...
- Also, using PrimoPDF you can make a PDF of anything you can print!
- Share by uploading the image or PDF to your blog or teacher website... or simply by emailing it to others.
- SMART PDF CONVERTER This program is free to try and will convert PDF files to WORD or Images. It places a watermark on word documents, but can easily be removed.
What is a screencast?
How do I screencast?
- In the past you could purchase options like Camtasia in addition to less powerful free screen capture tools for Windows.
- Now the folks who brought us Camtasia offer the amazing and Free, Jing project.
- Share by linking to the Jing video from your blog or teacher website... or simply by emailing it to others.
- MONKEY MAIL is a fun site that you can have a MONKEY create a message for you. Use Jing to record the screen and upload it for your students. Here is an example of a finished product: A MONKEY MESSAGE TO STUDENTS

Activity

Create a brief (5 minutes or less) instructional video about the new online gradebook - or another topic for your colleagues or students.
Share the link below:
- This is a video on how to enter the same grade for each student for a specific assignment in the grade book ic fill in
- This one shows how to use a Graphing Calculator to enter data points, graph the scatter plot, find the line of best fit, and use the line to predict values for new inputs. Tim Baumgartner, RUHS Math - http://screencast.com/t/Y6UxvGqr0
- This is a 30 second video on how to change the theme of your classroom webpage on myteacherpages.com http://screencast.com/t/XrS6ChdCBlu
- Susi Farrell This is an explanation of how to get on to Edusoft and into the Assessments folders with tests.
  http://screencast.com/t/afGMbgEg
- Julie Jing http://screencast.com/t/1Aolo0xL
- Nadine's Jing http://screencast.com/t/nuuoBR5Rw2
- Amanda's training video for Alta Vista Staff, "How to create a distribution list on Microsoft Outlook http://screencast.com/t/1d7m2xD0P3N
- Explanation of how to hide dropped students on IC http://screencast.com/t/f0upnV2Xf
- How to make a new album on Picassa 2 http://screencast.com/t/twpdKuQQh
- Cindy's video for Spanish class for the webpage: http://screencast.com/t/OpdX65TieRh
- This is how to get your attendance register for special education: http://www.screencast.com/users/jirika/folders/Default/media/4e8dfd47-70a6-4291-ac4d-e03ed4c30120
Extra Credit: Post the link to the Jing video on your own blog or teacher website!

LUNCH

RSS

It Really Is Really Simple: An Introduction to RSS in Education
Search Feeds - Notifications from Google, Technorati, and More!
- Web Search: Run a search at MSN search. Add &format=RSS to the end of the search URL. Cut and paste this URL into your feed reader. You now have a feed for that search!
- News Search: See the instructions for Custom News Feeds at Google News
- Technorati: Run a search at Technorati, a blog search engine. Then click on the orange subscribe link near the upper right (above the search results).

Activity: Set Up An RSS Aggregator

Create an account at Google Reader
Subscribe to some edublogs and other feeds.
Share items with your colleagues and/or students. Add a link to your shared items below:
- Dr. Wagner's Shared Items
- Stu's quickie google reader
You might also add a link to your shared items to your LITT Page.
Extra Credit: Add a link to your shared items on your own blog or teacher website!

Some Blogs To Subscribe To

http://www.weblogg-ed.com - Will Richardson
http://www.davidwarlick.com/2cents/ - David Warlick
http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com - Vicki Davis
http://www.thethinkingstick.com - Jeff Utecht (in Thailand)
http://www.edtechlife.com - Mark Wagner's blog ;)
http://hankshistoryhour.com/ - Hank's History Hour - from RBUSD!
MRPRICEROOM12 Exaclty what the name says

More Google

Calendar
- The Tool: http://calendar.google.com
iGoogle
- The Tool: http://www.igoogle.com
- The Crib Sheet: http://sites.google.com/site/gtaresources/files/Crib_iGoogle.pdf?attredirects=0
- GTA Resources: http://sites.google.com/site/gtaresources/tech-tools-rotation-2/blogger-reader--igoogle
Google Sites
- The Tool: http://sites.google.com
- The Crib Sheet: http://sites.google.com/site/gtaresources/files/Crib_Sites.pdf?attredirects=0
- GTA Resources: http://sites.google.com/site/gtaresources/tech-tools-rotation-2/google-apps-and-sites
SketchUp
- The Tool: http://sketchup.google.com
- The Crib Sheet: http://sites.google.com/site/gtaresources/files/Crib_SketchUp.pdf?attredirects=0
Talk
- The Tool: http://talk.google.com
Video & YouTube
- The Tools: http://video.google.com & http://youtube.com
Even More: http://www.google.com/options/
- And Even More GTA Resources: http://sites.google.com/site/gtaresources/materials/

Jigsaw Activity - Modified

Each pair or trio of LITTs will select a different Google Tool to explore in more depth.
Following their explanation, they will share three things with the large group:
- The Nature of The Tool - What is it? What does it do?
- The Educational Value of The Tool - How might teachers and students use it?
- How to Get Started - What are the next steps one would take?
Time Permitting: Explore one or more of the tools that interested you.